Today, I noticed that my post on my stay in Henn na Hotel, the first robot-staffed hotel, is somehow in the “top pages” link at the side. There’s been some pretty major changes, so I updated the post, but I thought there was enough to do a separate post too. The English posts I’ve seen tend to just talk about the robots being fired and why, so I thought it might be interesting to dive a little deeper.
Note: I’m focusing on the original Henn na Hotel, which is the “test bed” for all the other branches (like the Maihama branch). I did a search, but I didn’t find anything about the Maihama branch, Hakata branch, or any of the other branches getting rid of their robots.
What is Henn na Hotel?
Their website still mentions robots, but in the concept section, they say that
“One of the definitions of the Japanese word “Henn” is “to change,” which represents our commitment for evolution in striving for the extraordinary sensation and comfort that lies beyond the ordinary.[1] “
(I am okay looking at the English version of their site now because I spent hours pouring over it and sending a ton of corrections)
To me, this part is important because yes, the robots were really important at first, but the idea behind the hotel has always been to adopt new technology and to continue changing for the better. So the move away from robots is surprising (and a bit sad for me because I really liked them) but it’s not a total departure from their original mission.
What robots are fired and why?
I’ve read that the kinds of robots has gone down from a peak of 27 kinds of robots to 15 kinds [2]. In terms of numbers of robots, that number as gone down from 243 robots to 85 [3]. Most of the robots who are fired are entertainment robots. I read on The Verge that the dinosaur robots are “on the chopping block” because they can’t function properly – I’m not sure how it is now, but the one time I checked in, everything went smoothly. Also, it tends to be Japanese customers who check in and the robots are pretty good at picking up Japanese so there aren’t as many problems (if things have not changed from when I was there). There are a lot of foreign guests, but if they come in tour groups, then they basically skip the dinosaurs. Plus, I did see one Japanese source (also [3]) that said that they still plan on using the robots at the front desk, but will augment it with other tech (this was Oct 2018).
From Japanese sources, it seems like the reasons why the robots were fired were:
- Technology has become outdated
- It was troublesome to maintain: Charging all the robots is a pain. The hotel is all about efficiency while making customers happy, so this would be a big deal. I also remember some wifi problems with a few performer robots; this is something else that could affect the decision to take it away.
- It isn’t making the customers happy: especially the room robot, which is cool in theory but had a bit of a problem listening to requests – we didn’t have much problems with it, but I’ve heard of others who couldn’t turn off the lights because the robot didn’t understand them)
What is in the future for them?
Most of the information I found is from FNN Prime (source [3]), who seemed to have sent a list of questions over to the hotel. So the first thing to know is that the hotel is moving towards a “cashless” hotel. To that end, they’ve come up with things like the Smart Conbini, which only takes credit cards. If possible, the cashless part would integrate with the rest of the park.
There was something called Huis ten Bosch Money, which was a cashless payment system that uses thumbprints for authentication, but that service ended October last year [4], which I think is around the time all the news about the robots leaving first came out as well. I’m not sure if this is going to be connected to the “Ten Bosch Coin”, which is apparently their cryptocurrency coming out in the near future [5] (so I suppose we should hear some news soon), but IF cashless at the hotel works and IF Ten Bosch coin takes off, I suppose the two could be integrated. That said, all I saw about the cryptocurrency was the news about their collaboration with Liquid and that’s all around June 2018. So this is something to keep an eye on.
As for the hotel itself, it seems like the robots will still remain in the common areas, where check-in takes place. But, if you’re going to stay in the new, third wing, just know that there won’t be any robots there. I do wonder if the facial recognition door will still be in use because I found that very useful and pretty easy to use during my stay.
Oh yes, and Henn na Bar is still around! This is the first robot bar in Japan and it was opened in November 2017, just after I left. There is no human bartender, so it should be something interesting to experience as well! Orders are done through a tablet and then the bartender makes the drink for you [6].
So yes, a lot of the robots have been fired. But I don’t think it means that Henn na Hotel will be going back to being a ‘normal’ hotel. I think it would be worthwhile keeping an eye on them to see what they do next – and definitely don’t rule out using them as a hotel on your next trip to Japan!
References
[1] Henn na Hotel Official Site (English)